


Losing Control

by MagusLibera



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Gen, Heroes and Paragons, Pre-Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21698752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagusLibera/pseuds/MagusLibera
Summary: Oliver finds out why the Crisis came in 2019 instead of 2024 and it pushes him over the edge.Not for Barry Allen fans.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 18
Kudos: 86





	Losing Control

**Author's Note:**

> The Countdown to Crisis has hit just two days so I'm doing some stress relief, and letting all of my anger at Barry Allen go. I did once like him, I'm just fed up of the way that he never seems to experience the consequences of his actions but other people do.
> 
> So, yeah, here is some rubbish.

Mar Novu is in the middle of some great speech about the Crisis and their roles in it when he lets slip the fact that they had lost five years of precious preparation time. Somewhat subconsciously, Oliver had been aware of this fact. He recalls seeing the newspaper, with the _April 25, 2024_ date right above that headline. He recalls making his deal with Novu, a year before, and the both of them being under the impression that it would be a good five years before he would be called to fight. Instead, it had not even been one.

He never got to hear his daughter’s first words. He never got to see her take her first steps. He never got to celebrate her birthday. He had never even seen his children in a room together. Not until they were fully grown and time travelling.

A fury fills him, heat boiling in his veins as something inside him snaps. It might be his heart, breaking under the pressure of the heartbreak that he cannot escape. Just as he cannot escape his rapidly approaching fate.

Looking to his left, he sees his daughter. She stands at his side, where she has been ever since Lyla came to herald the apocalypse. Her face is shattered, the confusion and pain and anger written across it as she turns her gaze up to him, “I was supposed to get five years with you?” she asks, her voice small.

“Yeah.” He replies, “Yeah, we should have had five years together.”

Novu directs his next comment at the two of them, “And you would have had those years, had the timeline not been changed.”

The inferno breaks, and Oliver rounds on the only man he knows who would be stupid enough to mess up the timeline. _Again_. Every bad feeling, every negative emotion, every frustration, it all comes pouring out.

“You changed the timeline, didn’t you Barry?” he spits out, “You changed the timeline and made this Crisis come _five years early_! You _stole_ five years from me! You took away five years that I could have spent with my family.

  
“Felicity and I, we were _happy_. We were planning on getting out son back and living our lives peacefully but instead, once again, you put your selfish needs above everyone else and you didn’t even _think_ about the consequences. You just thought about what would change for _you_. And now my son will never get to come home and I’ll never get to see the people that I love ever again.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t get to blame me for this! Don’t you think that I’ve lost stuff too? I’ve sacrificed too! My daughter was _erased from existence_ when she changed the timeline but she did it to save the world! If anything, it’s _better_ for you that the Crisis has come early. I’m the one who has to be here knowing that I’m going to die, for you it just means that you can get it over with and go back to your life of ignoring your problems and the danger the world is in, like you have been.”

Oliver ignores the jab about his retirement, but Mia’s angry face makes him feel the need to counter Barry’s statement. To remind him that there are people who have and will suffer because of the early Crisis. “No, Barry. I can’t. Novu told me months ago that I will be dead before this Crisis is over. _Nobody_ is better off for it coming early, it only means that there are trillions of people whose lifespans have been shortened dramatically. And your daughter isn’t the only one who has suffered because of the decisions that you have made. You couldn’t possibly understand the meaning of sacrifice. Every sacrifice you have ever made has been accidental, self-serving or a mixture of both.”

Before Barry can retort, Novu steps in, “That is enough. We must all work together if we are to be able to defeat my brother.” He glances at Barry with barely concealed distaste, “As you were once told, Oliver, the essence of heroism is to die so that others can live. Everybody in this room has been willing to make that sacrifice in their pasts, and so has earned themselves the title of Hero. And every hero is needed to kill Mobius. Everybody must go into this battle prepared to not leave it.

“The difference, however, between certain individuals needed for the coming battle and those who have truly essential parts to play in order to secure our victory, is the echelon of heroism that they fall into. Regular heroes are those who sacrifice, but are self-serving. Only the truly selfless can become a Paragon, and only a Paragon can succeed in the coming task.” His piece said, the Monitor goes on to finish his original speech, preparing everybody for their roles.

  
“Oliver, I need to speak to you. We must ready ourselves.” He orders. Oliver and Mia follow.

*************************

Later, Oliver goes to Barry to apologise. He tells the other man that he is just worked up, and had let the stress and anger at the situation get the better of him, resulting in his lashing out. Barry does not return the favour. That fact, combined with the thought of his wife, his son, and his daughter being out there, separated and waiting for him to come back to them when he will never be able to, is what pushes him to remind Barry that he had sworn to stop screwing with the timeline. To let events pass as they should because it is never just Barry who has to suffer the consequences of his actions. It is all of the people around him. It is countless strangers who have been affected in an untold number of ways. And these are the people who always suffer the most, not Barry Allen.

It is not that Barry has not and will not suffer. He has. He will. But problems caused by his own mistakes are on him, and so are the lives that have been irrevocably altered as a direct result of the decisions leading to those mistakes.

Oliver tells Barry all of this, before wishing him luck and reminding him to stay safe and keep himself alive as he walks into his final battle. Ready for anything. Ready to do anything to protect his family and loved ones. Knowing that he is supposed to die has allowed him to prepare in a way that he never has before. It takes some of the fear away, the knowledge that he should die strangely calming his nerves. But the voices of John, his sister, son, daughter and – loudest and strongest of them all – his wife ring through his head, reminding him of all of the reasons that he has to hold on. The countless speeches that he has received in his life, reminding him not to give up even when all hope seems lost finally sinking in. He steels himself.

He plans to _fight to live_.

**Author's Note:**

> No beta, this is all on me.
> 
> I'm on Twitter [@MagusLibera](https://twitter.com/MagusLibera).


End file.
